Garcia wins a marathon versus Svitolina
Years ago, Caroline Wozniacki was dominant, taking out pretty much everyone, except against her good friend, Serena Williams, the best player, ever. Wozniacki was No. 1 for a couple of years. The one missing component was the lack of a major title. So, so eventually, she faded out of the Top 10.
The Dane has always played frequently, week after week, hour after hour, and rarely gives up. Clearly, she can be stubborn, which is why it has taken her a long, long time to change and improve her so-so forehand. Other holes in her game: rarely coming to the net and not leaping on the second serves.
On Wednesday, at the WTA Finals in Singapore, Wozniacki played nearly perfect, blowing out the No. 1 Simona Halep 6-0, 6-2. The Romanian can play as well as Caro can. Right now, the Romanian need more mental strength. It seems that she thinks she is going to lose, inside. That is why she has yet to win a major — yet.
“I must give her (Wozniacki) credit for the victory. She played well, but I missed too much,” Halep said. “I think if I just could keep the ball in, I could have been much better. But I played into her hands, and that was too much.”
Yes it was. Wozniacki has been very healthy and happy this season. She bowed out in six finals this year. Then, it took her nine month to win an important tournament, finally prevailing in Tokyo in September. She was ticked off her abysmal final record, but kept pushing herself. On Wednesday, she was super consistent — as always — and she attached the ball.
“I didn’t expect to be leading by that much in the first set and I started to think’ ‘What’s happening? Am I really playing that well?,’ ” Wozniacki said.
The Dane has won 58 matches this season. Perhaps she will end the year with 60 victories. Without a doubt, Wozniacki has a decent shot to capture the WTA Final.
There have been a few boring matches in Singapore, contrasting with a couple fantastic contests. In the third set, the Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia was down, but then she rose and upended Elina Svitolina 6-7(7) 6-3 7-5. Garcia was shaky two days ago, but this time, she wasn’t nervous and when she needed to, she went for the lines. She is muscular and she has been around for the past five years, up and down on court. In the past six months, she began to build point, and move better inside the court.
On Friday, Wozniacki and Garcia will play their final match. Wozniacki is 2-0 and has qualified for the semis. This will be a fun match, because Garcia is in the year-end tournament for the first time and still can advance.
Halep knows that,in order to stay at No. 1 at the end of this year, she has to reach the semis. She got a bump in the contest to be year-end No. 1 when Garbine Muguruza lost to Venus Williams. No. 3 Karolina Pliskova is 2-1 after losing to Jelena Ostapeno but will move into the semis.
Good fun, no?
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